World Speed Motorsports celebrates a 7th place win today at Homestead Speedway, when the CART Toyota Atlantic Championship series, Round 2 of the double-header weekend, was underway on the 1.4 – mile modified oval in Homestead, Florida. After a disappointing, inconclusive race yesterday afternoon, rookie Pete Mercier, driver for the #14 World Speed – SpeedWerx/Walker Racing Swift 008.1, started in the 10th position and aggressively worked his way to the lead pack. By lap 2, Mercier gained three spots after avoiding an accident by driving off-track, “I had to drive through the grass to avoid a mess. There was no track room, so my other option was the grass. Luckily, it was the right decision at the time,” said Mercier.
Unfortunately, Mercier lost those 3 spots due to a full course yellow flag. When the green flag dropped again, Mercier held a steady spot in the 8th position until mid-race when he spun a “360” complete circle on track right in front of #73, J.F. Veilleux, driver for Michael Shank Racing. “I was lucky he (J.F. Veilleux) didn’t hit me. I didn’t lose a spot. I spun and then threw it into gear and took off,” commented Mercier.
With 2 laps remaining in the 50 – lap, 70.6 – mile race, the track went yellow, which closed the gap between 8th place Mercier and 7th place #55, T.J. Bell, driver for Michael Shank Racing. Mercier caught the draft coming out of Turn 4 and passed Bell. “That race was easily the toughest race of my life. I’m just glad we made up for what happened yesterday. We ended the weekend on a positive note after all the ups and downs we’ve had the past couple of days,” said Mercier.
ESPN2 and ESPN International will broadcast Saturday’s Round 1 race on Saturday, April 1, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern. Sunday’s Round 2 will be televised on ESPN2 on Saturday, April 8, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern. Round three of the 12-race CART Toyota Atlantic Championship season takes place at the Toyota Atlantic Championship season takes place at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, on the streets of Long Beach.